Power of the Collective
AU-EU Youth Voices Lab – Power of the Collective envisions a society where enhanced youth engagement, empowerment, and connection shape policies, partnerships, and decision-making processes. Collaboration and co-creation are crucial aspects of this action. The initiative operates within the framework of the AU-EU Youth Lab, which also encompasses the AU-EU Youth Action Lab, focused on supporting youth champions from the intervention countries. Both AU-EU Youth Voices Lab and AU-EU Youth Action Lab operate and build on the efforts of previous successful initiatives promoted jointly by the European Union and the African Union.
This four-year EU co-funded initiative, part of the AU-EU Youth Lab programme, seeks to co-create a more youth-responsive and inclusive society in Africa and Europe. It is implemented by an international consortium of five partners with expertise in youth-led and youth-informed work, including Oxfam, Restless Development, Search for Common Ground, Youthmakers Hub, and ComDev Africa. It operates at a continental level by delivering impactful strategies involving youth and decision-makers from the 5 African regions. The initiative targets all 54 African countries and focuses on 14 Intervention Countries in Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, and one in Europe, Belgium, to engage the African Diaspora as key connectors.
The goal of AU-EU Youth Voices Lab – Power of the Collective is to support improved intergenerational partnerships and to help youth collaboratively shape actions towards sustainable development, equality, and peace at local, national, continental, and cross-continental levels. To achieve this, activities are developed in the framework of two interlinked journeys: the Youth Journey and the Institutional Journey.
The Youth Journey supports and equips young people aged 15 to 35 (including those living in hard-to-reach areas and unemployed), youth-led groups, and networks to effectively advocate for their concerns and priorities around the AU-EU partnership in Africa. The Institutional Journey bolsters decision-makers, including institutions, governments, and corporations, to become more youth-centered and develop youth-responsive policies. The ultimate beneficiaries are all those who will gain from including young people in decision-making. AU-EU Youth Voices Lab – Power of the Collective encompasses key notions across all its actions: human rights, gender.
SIERRA LEONE
In Sierra Leone, the programme is ensuring that;
- Young people and youth-led groups effectively advocate for their priorities at local and national levels.
- Institutions and decision-makers become more youth-centered and meaningfully collaborate with youth in policy development and implementation processes.
- The understanding of youth leadership principles and transformative leadership practices is enhanced among youth CSOs.
- Youth-led research methodologies and skills are built up, including participatory data collection and evidence-based advocacy.
- The knowledge and application of Meaningful Youth Participation (MYP) frameworks in policy and decision-making spaces are strengthened.
- Young people are equipped with advocacy strategies and tools for engaging institutions at local, national, and continental levels.
- Youth-led accountability mechanisms for monitoring commitments under the AU-EU partnership are promoted.
